Cairn the Indomitable
In order to reach Cairn, players must have unlocked the Glider Basics mastery. The fight starts as soon as the first player reaches the platform. Cairn will perform one auto attack chain followed by a special one green Spatial Manipulation. Upon passing through the waterfall on the way to Cairn, players will receive a special action Celestial Dash, a 1200 range movement skill with a 1.25 second evade on a 5 second cooldown. Players should familiarize themselves with this skill before the start of the fight. Mechanics Arena Mechanics Unseen Burden: A stacking debuff applied each second that reduces movement speed by 1%. At 99 stacks, players can no longer move but may still use dodges and dashes (eg. Celestial Dash). Each successful green circle removes 25 stacks while failing a green adds 25 stacks. Shared Agony: Every 20 seconds Cairn places the debuff Shared Agony on the furthest target not already affected. This debuff lasts 1 minute and manifests as a red damaging AoE centered on the player. This AoE deals moderate damage to the affected player and massive damage to other players every 3 seconds. It is important for players affected by Shared Agony (aka. "reds") to stay away from others. Cosmic Aura: A periodic effect which pulses minor damage to all players in combat with Cairn. Basic Attacks Cairn has a three part auto attack chain: Impact, Impact, Meteor Swarm. * Impact: Melee range attack that cleaves a small arc in front of Cairn. * Meteor Swarm: A wave of 9 projectiles (aka. "shards") in a 170 arc around Cairn that damage and knock back anyone struck. These shards will pass over any players that are within melee range of Cairn and can be blocked, evaded, and converted. Reflects will not change ownership of the shards and should not be used. Displacement: At the beginning of each auto attack chain, 3 dark starry circular AoEs outlined in red appear near Cairn's feet. Just before the third auto (Meteor Swarm) they will teleport anyone standing on them 1000 units in a random direction, making it likely that the player will subsequently get hit by shards. These AoEs may be blocked, evaded, and invulned. Special Attacks Spatial Manipulation: Cairn charges up, floats, and damages all players that fail to find safety in a green circle, applying 25 stacks of Unseen Burden. There are two variants of this attack: * Green circles of different sizes: The sizes of these circles correspond to the number of people required to satisfy that circle. This is represented by the number of bright glowing stars above the circle. If there are not enough people in a given circle it does not function and the players inside are affected by Spatial Manipulation. In general, players should go to the largest circle available unless they are affected by Shared Agony. Players with Shared Agony should try to locate the smallest circles, which only require a single person, but because there are only two single person greens in each pattern at least one player must move into either the main group green or share a single star green with another affected player. In every case, players with Shared Agony should wait until the last second to Celestial Dash into the green to ensure the smallest number of ticks are inflicted on other players. * Green circles of equal size: This variant gives players much less time to get to the greens (aka. "quick greens"). There are no numbers requirements for these green circles. This occurs after Cairn performs an Orbital Sweep. Energy Surge: Cairn teleports around to 5 different locations, leaving a green circle behind at each. Players caught in the path to his next location are knocked back a great distance. Cairn immediately performs Spatial Manipulation after this attack (quick greens variant) using these green circles. Players should wait to enter the greens until this attack is finished and watch Cairn's facing (the arrow marker at his feet) to ensure they are not in the path of his next teleport. While he is above 50% health, there will be a green circle at the center of the arena. Orbital Sweep: Cairn places his arm on the arena (telegraphed by a large dark red arrow) and spins clockwise in an arena wide attack that knocks back everyone it hits. This attack can be avoided by dodging to the left as soon as the arm begins to spin. Gravity Wave: Starting at 20%, Cairn creates a wave of 3 concentric rings that knock back starting from the center. Players within the area safe from Meteor Swarm will be unaffected by this attack. Players further away should attempt to dodge or Celestial Dash through the wave towards the center of the arena. Strategies Shard Kiter This is the best strategy for less experienced players. A shard kiter allows for careful control of Cairn's basic attacks which can wreck havok on less organized groups. This comes at a cost of lower group dps due to the loss of boons from a potential support. Squad The main group should stand as close as possible to circle. The "safe area" using this strategy is within the triangle formed by circle-heart-square. Players with Shared Agony should position themselves within this area as close as possible to circle without placing others in Shared Agony. Players with more durability (eg. Druids and Chronos) should try to take Shared Agony by standing further away from Cairn. The first green circle at the start of the fight will be at square. Shard Kiter The shard kiter should stand at arrow. Cairn aims Meteor Swarm based on the position of the furthest player during the second auto attack in his chain. The kiter may avoid all these attacks by standing still for Cairn's second auto and strafing to either the left or right as Cairn throws out his third auto attack. Once the shards have passed the kiter should reposition back to arrow. The kiter will always be targeted with Shared Agony. This in addition to the damage from Cosmic Aura means that the kiter is subject to large amounts of unavoidable damage. Due to this health pressure, it is important for the kiter to have large amounts of self healing. See Ranger#Shard_Kite No Shard Kiter TODO: This section could use some improvement A strategy for more experienced players. By keeping everyone at circle there are more boons and heals to maximize group dps. Meteor Swarm will not hit players positioned close to his hit box. However, his first two auto attacks in each chain will cleave the players in front of him. This damage needs to be managed by the healers in the squad. The "safe area" in this strategy is the area between circle and arrow. Individuals with Shared Agony should stand in the triangle formed by circle-heart-square. This places them on the other side of Cairn but allows them to remain close to his hit box. This allows them to benefit from group healing and keeps them within the inner circle to avoid shards. Players with more durability (eg. Druids and Chronos) should try to take Shared Agony by standing further away from Cairn. The first green circle at the start of the fight will be at arrow. Category:Bastion of the Penitent